Globalization, glocalization and neolocalism as driving forces of change of European brewing industry

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the importance of local and regional context on the impact of global processes by using the European brewing industry as a case study. The brewing industry has been fundamentally affected by global changes over the last 30 years. At the same time, beer is a product that has been historically linked to its place of production, and consumers are both sensitive to any changes and can influence impact of possible changes through their consumers' behaviour. The research focuses on the impacts of globalization on the brewing industry and breweries in Europe in terms of the presence of transnational brewing companies on the markets of European countries, the concentration and relocation of the beer production and the unification of the beer supply. Moreover, it studies the glocalization and neolocalism processes shaping the emergence of the phenomenon of the establishment of microbreweries and its spread in space. Glocalization is understood here as a phenomenon in which local initiatives also use the opportunities provided by the globalization to succeed, while neolocalism is understood as a phenomenon of the return of demand for local products as an alternative to the overly strong supply-side effects of the globalization. The first aim of this thesis is..